Home Minister Rajnath Singh says Assam floods not ‘natural calamity’, death toll climbs to 26

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrives to meet flood affected people at a relief camp in Bhakat Gaon in Morigaon district of Assam on Saturday. (Source: PTI)

After undertaking an aerial survey of flood-affected areas in Assam, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that an action plan was required to tackle the flood situation and dismissed the need to declare it as a “natural calamity”.

“I have been told that around 26 people have died over the past one week due to floods in Assam. Declaring the flood situation as a natural calamity is not the solution, there is a need for a action plan to deal with it,” said Rajnath Singh.

The home minister, earlier in the day, flew to Assam to take stock of the situation as 19 lakh people are reeling under flood in 22 districts of the state. Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, Singh said that the state government has announced compensation to victims and assured that rescue and relief operations are underway.

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“State government has announced Rs 4 lakh compensation to the victims. Over 26 districts have been affected due to flood situation and NDRF team is working for rescue and relief work,” he said.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh along with Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal and Union DONER Minister Dr Jitendra Singh visit flood affected people at a relief camp, at Bhakat Gaon in Morigaon district of Assam on Saturday. (Source: PTI)

Rajnath Singh also said that the Centre and state are working together to tackle the situation. “Assam CM submitted a memorandum. Inter ministerial team will study it and decide on further action to be taken by the Centre,” the home minster added.

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Earlier in the day, Rajnath Singh undertook an aerial survey of flood-affected areas of Nagaon, Morigaon and Kaziranga in Assam. He was accompanied by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh.

The rise in the water level of the Brahmaputra River has made the condition of Assam very critical and many districts have been submerged. The flood situation worsened as new areas have been inundated.

A roadside food vendor waits for customers as he sits next to his partially submerged food stall during a rainstorm in New Delhi, India, Saturday, July 30, 2016. (Source: AP)

The affected districts are Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Jorhat, Bongaigaon, Dhemaji, Barpeta, Goalpara, Dhubri, Darrang, Morigaon, Sonitpur, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Kokrajhar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Biswanath, Kamrup Metropolitan, Chirang, Nagaon, Kamrup and South Kamrup.

As per reports, the administration has rescued all affected families as surging water breached Bongaon embankment at Majuli River Island in Jorhat.

(With inputs from ANI)